Arran Machrie Moor Third Edition

Arran distillery is the only distillery on the Isle of Arran. It was founded in 1994 by Harold Currie and was officially opened in 1995. Most of the production goes into single malt whisky; however a small proportion is used for Arran’s range of blended whiskies, such as Lochranza Blend, Robert Burns Blend and Arran Gold Single Malt Whisky Cream Liqueur. This is the third edition of ‘Machrie Moor’, Arran’s lightly peated single malt, named after a peat bog on the isle’s west coast; it was released in 2012 with a total outturn of 12,000 bottles.

The nose is malty and quite fruity, with pears and oranges having the biggest impact. Then the peat smoke kicks in, very lightly and soft and more like background music. A good lemon zestiness underlies it all.

The palate is light-bodied and spicy, with light lemon and vanilla flavours taking centre stage, followed by sour candy and peat smoke.

The finish is of medium length, peaty and spicy (as in sour candy).

This is not a single malt for die-hard peat lovers as the peat was so delicate as to play only a minor role. All in all this was pleasant to drink but without any distinguished features, except for the sour candy element that I had rarely found in a whisky before.

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